Filling A Gap

Janet D. Brinkley tells the adults learning to read in her class that they should live for today and forget about the past.

Brinkley doesn't just mouth those words; she lives them. Six years ago, doctors told her she might have a brain tumor. They ran tests on her for a month before they realized they were wrong.

"I handled that situation by living for each day, because that was the only one I was sure of," she says.

Brinkley is the director and instructor of the adult education program at Planters LifeSavers Company. The program is for workers at the company who never learned the skills they should have learned when they were in school.

Brinkley, who lives on Manning Road in Suffolk, says many of her students say the class gives them a second chance at succeeding in life.

As they enter the class, some of the students haven't mastered the most basic academic skills. They don't even know how to write their names. Others are more advanced and want to prepare for the Graduate Equivalency Diploma test. But all of the students have one thing in common - they want to better themselves.

Brinkley says the students are embarrassed about their situation at first.

"The very first time they come in, it doesn't matter what level they're at, they're scared and uneasy," she says.

But they quickly learn to overcome their self-consciousness. Advanced students will often lean over to help new students having difficulty with an assignment. They eagerly point out that they once had difficulty answering the same question.

At first, students are hesitant to show their ignorance, but once they learn something, "They walk out with their heads held high," Brinkley says.

She says people are too quick to label the illiterate as dumb. Her students, Brinkley says, usually are quite good at math and are quick learners. She says society doesn't care about them because it has become selfish. People are too absorbed in their own problems to worry about the problems of their neighbors, she says.

"The average age in here is 42," she says. "A lot of people didn't go to school back then. They stayed home and worked. It was a matter of supporting their families."

Schools don't seem to be doing that much better of a job these days, she says. The average age of the class drops every year, she says, because young dropouts continue to find their way to her classroom.

Student have their own reasons for coming to the class. One woman wanted to get a GED so she could show her children how important it was for them to receive a high school diploma. When the woman recently received her diploma, all six of her children were there to see the ceremony.

Brinkley was formerly a middle school teacher in the Suffolk school system. She says she never thought she would one day teach adults, but now that she does, she finds it more enjoyable than teaching children.

"It's the ideal situation for teaching," Brinkley says. "There are no discipline problems. We just teach, and they love it and they can apply what they learn right away."

Teaching adults, however, does pose some problems. Brinkley has to prevent the classes from becoming monotonous. Her students don't just recite the alphabet; they rap it. Brinkley says she can hear her students humming the song to themselves as they leave the classroom and walk down the stairs.